Jane Goody, dead at 27 of cervical cancer

A video grab shows Big Brother contestant Jade Goody giving an interview after leaving the Big Brother House at Elstree Studios in London, January 19, 2007. Goody, accused at home and abroad of being a racist bully for her treatment of housemate and Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, was evicted from the “Celebrity Big Brother” show on Friday

Goody, 27, died in her sleep at 3.22 a.m. at her home in Essex, southeast England.

Her husband Jack Tweed, mother Jackiey and close family friend Kevin Adams were at her bedside when she died peacefully.

Goody, mother of two, married Tweed in a televised ceremony only last month.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who had commented on her illness, joined the tributes that poured in after her death. “I was deeply saddened to hear the news of Jade Goody’s death,” he said in a statement.

“She was a courageous woman both in life and death and the whole country have admired her determination to provide a bright future for her children,” brown said.

Goody shot to fame in 2002 after appearing in Big Brother, a reality show in which people are locked in a house and their every move televised. But her popularity sank in 2007 after racially charged tirades against Indian housemate Shetty in Celebrity Big Brother.